pago-, pag-, pagan-

A reference to certain beliefs and religious practices that are different from others: Some neopagan believers attempt to reconcile or get along with those who have different beliefs of various religious practices, folk customs, and ritual techniques.

Someone who is involved with a modern-religious movement which strives to incorporate beliefs or ritual practices from the religions that are no longer a part of the main world religions; especially, those of pre-Christian Europe and North America: There are some systems in which neopagans include a combination of ancient and modern factors in which nature worship is influenced by modern environmentalism.

Identified as a 20th-century revival of interest in the worship of nature, fertility, etc.; as represented by various deities: Neopaganism is said to combine the worship of nature deities of the earth, with benign witchcraft.

Adherents of neopaganism often have deep ecological concerns and an attachment to nature; so, many worship an earth-mother goddess and center their rituals on the change of the seasons.

Neopaganism is considered to be a combination of historical inspiration and present-day creativity.

Those who are part of neopaganism rely on pre-Christian and folkloric sources and so many of them follow a spirituality, which they consider to be entirely modern, while others attempt to reconstruct or to revive religions from historical sources as accurately as possible.

Someone who is in a group of modern religious movements which are influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various historical beliefs of pre-modern Europe: Although neopaganists share some similarities, such religious movements are usually different from each other and so no single set of beliefs or practices are shared by all of them.

There are some members who observe a specific ancient religion to a degree that can border on historical re-enactments: Some people neopaganize a spirituality that is not entirely modern in origin; however, it still refers to the worship of nature.

1. An offensive term that deliberately insults someone who does not acknowledge the God of the Bible, Torah, or Koran: A pagan has been identified as a person who holds religious beliefs other than those of the primary world religions.

Some pagans worshiped the gods of fire and rain.

Pagans are still defined by some religious leaders as those who are not members of their particular religious groups or those whose religions are regarded as questionable.

Pagan in the religious sense is often said to derive from conservative rural adherence to the old gods after the Christianization of Roman towns and cities.

Those parts of the world that are inhabited by those who have a common belief of the pre-Christian religions of Europe and which are also common to a wide variety of areas around the world: One principle of those who are part of pagandom is polytheism which is the belief in and the veneration of multiple gods and/or goddesses.

Some neopagans have indicated that they came to their adopted faiths because they are allowed to have greater freedom, diversity, and tolerance of worship in the pagandoms.

Relating to a belief that everything in the universe is imbued with a life force or with spiritual energy: For paganical believers, pantheism means that divinity can not be separated from nature and that deity is a part of nature.

Pertaining to believing that there are spirits that exist in various areas of the natural world and that these can be actively communicated with: Some groups paganically consider the use of charms, healing, and other metaphysical practices as being beneficial to their communities.

A reference to those who do not acknowledge the God of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam: It is the paganish belief that the religious practices of pre-Christian Europe still have value even after centuries of suppression and neglect by the dominant monotheistic groups.

1. A spirit or attitude about religious or moral questions: One element of paganism is the worship of idols or false gods.
2. Etymology: from Late Latin paganisnus, "heathenism"; from paganus "villager, civilian"; from pagus, "rural district, village" or "country area" because ancient idol worship continued in rural areas after Christianity had been generally accepted in the towns and cities of the Roman Empire as the true religion.

When new customs and manners reach the big cities, the rural areas are usually behind the times and remain old-fashioned as they tend to keep the "old-time religion" or paganism.

Someone who is identified by either his or her religious beliefs that are generally different from major religions, or in some cases, by the lack of any affiliation with any form of religious worship: There are some paganists who have declared that they are heathens or heretics who are completely irreligious, because they consider all religions as being unrealistic and mythological.

Descriptive of people, or communities, who have religious beliefs like those of the ancient Romans and Greeks: For centuries there have been paganistic groups that have existed which did not agree with the doctrines of Christians, Jews, or Muslims.

A process of making someone become a follower of an ancient polytheistic or pantheistic religion: There are some organizations that are striving to directly or indirectly make paganization a way of life for others because they oppose other established religions.